Like other 17th-century writers, John Milton had only a sketchy idea of Islam and the Arab world, obtained from travelers and linguists who had made journeys to and from the Middle East. Yet buried in works like Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained, argues Jordanian politician, critic, and professor Eid Abdallah Dahiyat, are signs that Milton had indeed absorbed ideas and influences from Islam and Arab culture. Dahiyat shows how, from the Middle Ages, a wide range of writers and researchers spoke, read, and wrote Arabic. He underscores references to the Orient and Islam in Milton's writings, and discusses the later response of Arab writers and scholars to Milton's major works.